


What She Chose

by Merfilly



Series: Dirty Politics [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Assassination, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 22:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14680737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Padmé has planned for this.





	What She Chose

Ahsoka didn't — wouldn't — stay all the time at Rex's, leaving while he was gone on shift and only dropping back in when she was hurt or had information. Slowly, she had led him to pieces of evidence, introduced him to a few people that were also working to change things, to find a way to fight back.

When he did come in to find her with two small children, both pale of skin, he paused, curious, and then the boy looked over at him, mirrored by the girl, and Rex knew he had seen echoes of their faces.

"These are Skywalker's children," he said.

"No, they are Amidala's," Ahsoka said softly, when the boy tucked in to her side, hiding his face. "She asked me to take them, to hide them away. We'll go if—"

"No, stay, even if I think this is about to get very ugly," Rex said firmly, before going to get his ear piece to listen to the police bands.

"I hope you're wrong," Ahsoka said, cuddling the boy even as the girl climbed into her lap too.

* * *

Padmé smiled prettily and sat with her husband as expected as the opera began. She had only told Anakin that she had arranged a sitter for the twins, so that they could have a night out with her uncle, his benefactor. 

Anakin, having dealt with a recent rise in the number of protests thought the city, had been distracted enough to think nothing of it. He knew she understood the risks, that whomever she had found would be one of his approved people.

He had never been so wrong.

"I brought those pastries you praised last time, uncle," Padmé said as the lights were dimming.

Like Anakin, the old man believed she was perfectly in his grasp, believing in his power that could destroy her children's lives without question.

"Ahh, thank you," he said, accepting one of the pastries with its blend of cheeses and herbs and mushrooms. Such an innocuous combination, if one were very careful with the ingredients and did not confuse mushroom species.

Padmé did not say a word as her husband took one as well, and only focused on the stage as the lights dimmed completely.

Half an hour later, when both of her companions were completely still, she rose and left the box by the private way they had come in by. 

It was a pity that her uncle refused to allow recording devices in that hall, or more might have been known when the staff found the bodies later. Still, she had no intention of letting them be martyrs for their corrupt cohort. All would know, once she finished her plan.

* * *

As the call for all senior officers to report in hit, Rex looked at Ahsoka with the children, all three asleep on the couch, and felt a chill in his bones. He got up and dropped a blanket over the trio, getting a sleepy mumble from the street rat that had come to be so important to him and the city, even if they didn't know it. 

He went to the door and opened it… to see Amidala herself, the woman whose children were on his couch.

"Captain, I'm turning myself into you," she said. "I am told you have honor, believe in justice, and will see that I remain alive long enough to enter a plea agreement."

"Then, before you say a single word, Mrs. Skywalker, I have to read you your rights," Rex said, as he began to feel that chill spreading. He did step back, ostensibly to secure his handcuffs off his belt, but affording her a view of the twins, safe in Ahsoka's arms.

He admired how that view only made the woman square her shoulders and tip her chin up, committing more firmly to whatever path she had taken.

* * *

The plea agreement brought the city to its knees.

Their entire bureaucracy fell to federal investigations as the ties and corruption were exposed. Rex could only sit back and guard the children, protect Ahsoka as an anonymous source, as everything spiraled out, when a document was produced naming Ahsoka as the twins' legal guardian.

When he'd taken an interest in street rat like Tano, he'd never thought it would lead to a double murder that toppled everything.

In some ways, he knew it would have been easier to be ignorant.

Watching her care for the twins? He wouldn't have it any other way now.

**Author's Note:**

> A little abrupt, but I wanted to give closure to this idea and this was all I was managing to find.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] What She Chose](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15516432) by [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly), [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins)




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